Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is the eagerly awaited sequel to the much beloved MvC 2, which first made an appearance around 10 years ago, and GameOn were lucky enough to get some hands on play time with the title. So allow us to take you for a ride.

Firstly, the most apparent change between the two games is the decision to go 3D on character models and environments, yet keep the action on a 2D plane as seen in the recent Street Fighter IV titles. The pace of the game is slower compared to its predecessor, however this may make the title more accessible to newcomers of the series but this slower pace does not remove any of the depth or the ability to pull out crazy combo's which veterans of the series are known to perform.

It does appear that Capcom has addressed the balance issue which was glaringly obvious in MvC 2 in where you had a selection of around 10 characters that were better than any of the other 50 or so characters included in the game. MvC 3 characters all feel that they actually have a role to perform in the game, rather than just being added as filler content on the game roster.

The attack methods are simplified too, now you just have a light, medium and heavy action button, with your special moves being activated using any of those buttons. For example, Ryu's Hadoken and Tatsumaki can be activated using the same button and their respective control input. While this was a tad disorienting to begin with being used to six buttons (three punch, three kick) it did not take long before I was stringing together some basic combo's with Ryu in the game.

Along side your action buttons you have an air combo button which knocks your opponent up in the air so that you may perform even more damaging combo's on your foe's. As for your super meter, you cannot build this up by whiffing attacks or performing special moves, only taking damage or dealing damage will build this meter up. This change results in the elimination of the notorious keep-away game style which was so dominant n MvC 2 and switches the focus back into an offensive style of playing, rewarding those who want to attack their opponents rather than keeping them at bay until the super meter is ready.

There is a heavy Marvel comic book influence in the game visuals, with comic book style artwork and fonts dominating the games' overall presentation. The character models have a matching look to them and nothing really seems out of place, but what really has a wow factor are the character's super and hyper attacks. These just flood the screen with eye candy which looks spectacular, it's almost like witnessing a double rainbow on your TV screen.

Now with the resurgence of the fighting genre and it's associated peripherals it seems inevitable that Mad Catz will bring out a MvC 3 branded arcade stick, however we could not get any official word on that, only the indication that if there were to be a MvC 3 stick that it would more than likely be available in time for the release of the title.

One final note, I was able to make GameOn proud as I successfully defeated the gorgeous Capcom PR rep that I was lucky enough to play a few rounds of this amazing game with.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is due out in spring 2011 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.